The Changing Content Industry

How is the industry changing?

Those in the marketing industry have likely noticed that the silos that once separated different marketing teams are now crashing down. The rise of the hybrid marketer has begun, and it will likely not slow down any time soon.

Marketing departments have begun to evolve in this direction because of the growing importance of the user experience. Customers today are largely channel agnostic. They do not depend upon a single platform to communicate with brands and learn about their offerings. They might ask questions on social media, redeem coupons through email and make purchases on mobile. Creating a quality user experience requires everyone on the marketing team to work together to provide for these customers throughout their journey. Siloed teams and employees hinder this progress.

The importance of the user experience also extends through website development. Google wants to see sites that are user-friendly, and that is quickly rising as a critical ranking factor. Sites with errors, slow load times, excessive ads and other features that make them more frustrating for users have all been penalized through the different algorithm updates. Brands need to focus always on the customer first.

How does this impact brands?

Organizations today need to focus on finding marketers who can stretch across borders and help build campaigns that use more than one platform. Content marketers need to understand SEO, organic search needs to understand PPC, and social media needs to understand email. You want to find employees who can answer this need when growing your organization. Existing employees need to be offered trainings and learning opportunities to expand their skills.

You also need to take your marketing team back to the basics and rebuild your strategy to focus on the user experience. Everything from keyword selection to content development to distribution needs to be focused primarily on what customers will think and experience. It is only through this reworking that you will be able to grow your website rather than risk being penalized by a future Google update.

How do I prepare for the changing industry?

Create campaigns that force teams to work together and establish common goals.

Redraft the marketing development process to make sure that the user experience is always the primary goal of the marketing team.

Measure your marketing results throughout your campaigns to see how well customers are responding.

Adjust when necessary to maintain your focus on the user experience.

The content marketing industry continues to change. This has led to the breakdown of the silos separating teams and a renewed focus on the user experience rather than rankings. By staying current with these latest developments, brands can position themselves strongly for the continually maturing industry.